The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) KwaZulu-Natal leader, Roger Burrows, will step down when the party holds its provincial congress on Saturday.
”I decided to step down to let a new party leader take over as we head towards 2009,” said Burrows on Monday night. ”I’ve had 25 years in politics. There are other things I want to do with the remaining years of my life. Maybe even become a journalist.”
Succeeding Burrows will be Mike Ellis or Radley Keys. Ellis is a national parliamentarian and Keys holds one of the five seats in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
The ruling African National Congress will, however, have to wait for the 2009 general election for Burrows to end his involvement in the party. ”Until then there’s still a lot for me to do. I certainly won’t be silent,” he said.
The 61-year-old Burrows’s parliamentary debut came in 1984 for the then Progressive Federal Party, which later became the Democratic Party and then today’s DA.
Before his 1994 election to Parliament, Burrows was a teacher for 12 years and then general secretary of the Natal Teachers’ Union (now the Association of Professional Educators) for four years.
From 1994, Burrows has headed the DA in KwaZulu-Natal and led its caucus in the provincial legislature.
Asked what he thought about criticisms that the party was ”too white”, Burrows said: ”I believe it will be a diverse leadership structure.”
He pointed out that Rafeek Shah and George Matori (a member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature) have been nominated for deputy provincial leaders. Councillors Sizwe Mchunu and Bheka Mtshali are in the running for the three provincial vice-chairperson posts.
Nearly 400 delegates will vote for the DA’s new provincial leader on Saturday at the Students’ Union building on the Edgewood Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Nominations from the branches closed on August 4 and the 400 delegates at provincial congress will vote to determine the party’s leadership — including Burrows’s replacement.
”One thing I have learnt from [President Thabo] Mbeki and [former deputy president Jacob] Zuma is that you never choose your own successor. You let the democratic structures do that,” said Burrows. — Sapa